Mary Pickford would be 119. "Little Mary," as she was known worldwide, was the first female "superstar". At the height of her fame, she was also the highest paid actress in the world--by far. She formed United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and her equally-popular husband, actor Douglas Fairbanks to escape the bounds of the Hollywood contract system. Her fall from the pinnacle of stardom had more to do with aging and changing public tastes, rather than her inability in front of a microphone, once silent films came to an end. The "girl with the curls" was a bit unbelievable playing the juvenile as she approached 40. She retired from films in the early 30's, divorced Fairbanks, and lived to her 87th year in gilded seclusion at her fabled Beverly Hills estate, Pickfair.
E.Y. "Yip" Harburg would be 115. The brilliantly clever and witty lyricist teamed up with his equally talented partner, Harold Arlen, to write some of the greatest songs and musical scores ever written. The pinnacle of their fame and Hollywood success came in 1939, when they were tapped to create the score for The Wizard of Oz for MGM. They took that ball and ran with it, crafting a sophisticated, yet almost child-like series of songs that are among the most glittering facets of a brilliant gem, indeed---including the 1939 Best Song Oscar-winning song, "Over the Rainbow," which is perennially listed as the "greatest song of the 20th century" on several prominent lists. The complex simplicity (or vice versa) of Harburg's lyrics is what made him one of the greatest lyricists to ever raise a pen. Enjoy this clip of the master himself, singing his greatest song:
Sonja Henie would be 99. She can certainly be called a "one-of-a-kind" star, as no one, before or since, has assumed the same shtick that she had. She was a petite, blonde figure-skating star who won Olympic gold three times for her native country, Norway. She then went on to Hollywood in 1936, making a series of enormously popular films that always featured lengthy and increasingly elaborate (and expensive) skating scenes, opposite some of Hollywood's top male stars (like Tyrone Power and John Payne). Watching her films today, they're just a tiny bit strange and my, but she had a strong Norwegian accent (possibly apocryphal, the story goes that in one of her films, she had to say the line, "But I love you, too, Hugh!" in her garbled accent, leaving audiences in paroxysms of laughter). But, come on...she was cute, very earnest...and she sure could skate!
Franco Corelli would be 90. He was opera's matinee idol tenor in the 1950's and 60's, standing 6'4" and having a carved-in-marble profile found on ancient Roman coins. But he was far more than just a bel canto hunk--he had one of the most magnificent tenor voices ever recorded. His career was somewhat limited, and certainly shortened, by an unlikely adversary: His own battle with stage fright. Opera mavens have long asked, "Of all people, how could Franco Corelli ever have any self-doubt??" After a brilliantly successful career singing in the great opera houses of the world, he retired from the stage in 1976 and died in 2003.
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